P30-M fake cigarettes destroyed at Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Bureau of Customs (BoC), assisted by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s lawenforcement department (SBMA-LED), destroyed yesterday 845 boxes of fake imported cigarettes with a street value of some P30 million. Port of Subic Deputy Customs Collector Reynaldo Avelino said that 246 boxes (14,760 reams) of fake imported 555 Filter King cigarettes and 599 boxes (35,940 reams) of blue-seal Marlboro cigarettes were destroyed with the use of a portable shredding machine.

Residents of the city are however worried that this might be another cover-up of the anomalies happening inside SBMA. It can be recalled that thousands of fake cigarettes were distributed by a candidate close to Payumo during the last local election. They suspect that the actual number of destroyed cigarettes were concealed to the public since SBMA is being investigated in Philippine Senate for rampant smuggling.

Speculations that this is a repeat of what happened last January 2004 when the office of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) here had been deliberately set off to burn into ashes important documents when they are about to be audited.